Monday: If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969)
Charlie is a British tour guide. He takes Americans on a bus tours of Europe. Charlie doesn't take his job very seriously and is more interested in visiting a different woman in every city. His newest group seems to be the same as the rest. Then he notices a beautiful single woman named Samantha in the group. Charlie becomes determined to make her his next conquest turning on the charm at every opportunity. She rebuffs his attempts. He starts to have real feelings for her. During this he is also dealing with the rest of the group and trying to keep everything under control. This movie was ok. Ian McShane is Charlie. This is the youngest I've ever seen him. He was actually quite handsome.
Tuesday: Persuasion (1997)
When Anne was younger she was in love with a naval officer named Fredrick. But when he proposed she rejected him. Mostly because her wealthy family didn't not approve of such a lowly match. In the present her family is having financial problems and is forced to move to their smaller home in Bath. Anne goes to help her sister who is sick. Mary, Anne's sister, has married into a wealthy family, the Musgroves. The family doesn't like Mary. She does her best to be included but her difficult personality repels them. They love Anne, wishing she had married their son instead. A naval admiral and his wife come to stay with the Musgroves. The wife's brother is Fredrick. He comes to visit. Fredrick is now a wealthy and successful captain. Anne still has feeling for him but isn't sure he feels the same. He gives most of his attention to the Musgrove's young daughters. Anne has to decide if she will let society and her family rule who she choses to love and be with. I thought this movie was good. This is actually a TV movie version done by Screen Two. I have seen the movie version of quite a few of Jane Austen's books, but not this one.
Wednesday: The Rack (1956)
Edward was a POW in the Korean war. He was tortured until he gave them information. Later he is rescued and returned to the US. After he recovers in the hospital he is court-martialed for collaborating with the enemy. The military believes he willingly gave out the information and became a Korean agent. The information he gave out is responsible for soldiers deaths and foiling an escape plan. Edward gets a good lawyer who argues that he was tortured into giving out information and should not be held responsible. He has a hard time convincing the court of Edward's innocence. They will decided his fate. I thought this movie was ok. It's frustrating. He was a POW and was tortured. When you are in that state you will do anything to get out. He clearly wasn't working with them, just trying to stay alive. He shouldn't have been charged with anything.
Thursday: The Outsiders (1983)
Ponyboy is a young greaser living with his two older brothers. He can't wait to be old enough to be a hard core greaser. His brothers want more for him. Ponyboy is close with another young greaser named Johnny. Both of them often get beat up by the rival gang, the Socs. They are the wealthy kids from the other side of town. One night Ponyboy and Johnny are attacked by the Socs. Johnny ends up killing one of the Socs. They go on the run. The boys hide in an old church waiting for it to blow over. They are forced to come back after a tragedy that changes everything. I thought this movie was alright.
Friday: King Richard (2021)
This is based on a true story. Richard is a black man with five daughters. He does all he can to keep them safe and off the streets. He pushes them hard to get good grades. Richard is determined to make his youngest daughters, Venus and Serena, tennis champions. He trains with them everyday. While they are at school he goes to all the clubs trying to get them a coach. They refuses him. Finally he forces a coach to watch Venus and Serena play. The coach takes just Venus as a student. Serena continues to work on her game by watching videos of Venus's practices and with the help of her mom. Venus starts playing in junior matches and starts to become well known when she wins all her matches. Richard starts to worry about how harmful it could be for her to compete so much at a young age. So he pulls her out of matches until she goes pro. This upsets both Venus and her coaches. Of course as we all know once she does go pro she becomes an amazing tennis player. Serena also has a lot of success. This is a good movie.
Saturday: tick, tick...BOOM! (2021)
This is based on a musical by the composer Jonathan Larson about his first musical. Jonathan has been working on his musical for eight years. He works at a diner to support himself. Jonathan has a close friend named Michael who is an actor turned advertising bigwig. His girlfriend is a dancer who had an injury that is impacting her career. Jonathan has a workshop for his musical coming up. It's all he can think about. His relationships and everything around him falls apart as he only focuses on his workshop. He has to find a new way to balance his life. This is a really good movie. There is an amazing scene in the diner with broadway legends. This is Lin-Manuel Miranda's directorial debut. Jonathan went on to write Rent. Which won a lot of Tony's and a pulitzer. Unfortunately he died before the first public performance. I was amazed what a good singer Andrew Garfield (Jonathan) is.
Sunday: Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)
As you might have guessed this is a French film. It takes place during WWII. It is also based on a true story. Clearly there was a theme to my weekend movies that I didn't know about. Julien is a young boy attending a Catholic boarding school. He is cocky, knowing he is smarter than everyone else. Three new boys start at his school. One is Jean who has a bed next to Julien. At first Julien hates Jean. Mad that he is almost as smart as him and better at everything. But slowly they become friends. Then Julien finds out that Jean and the other new boys are Jews. The Father in charge of the school is hiding them. This makes Julien wary because there are Nazis in the village where the school is. There are also local police looking for foreigners. This is a good movie. Sad but good.
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